James Brady, longtime Island Park firefighter, dead at 85

James G. Brady, a longtime Island Park firefighter and trustee who, during the Christmas season, descended from a helicopter as the village Santa Claus, has died at his home in Brandon, Fla. He was 85.

The son of one of Island Park's original residents, Brady was among the first students in Island Park's public schools, his family said. Unable to serve in World War II because of poor eyesight, he became a professional firefighter in Jersey City before joining his mother-in-law working at Consolidated Edison. He was a watch foreman for Con Ed in Brooklyn for three decades, according to his son, Thomas Brady of Levittown.

Brady, who died Aug. 3, served on the Island Park village board for 24 years and was a lifetime member of the Island Park Fire Department, but Island Parkers of a certain age will remember him as the Santa Claus who came by helicopter during the 1970s and 1980s, bringing presents to children at the village's Long Island Rail Road station.

A big man with the requisite silver hair, Brady cut a compelling Santa, son Thomas said. And the helicopter ride was always a thrill for Brady's wife of 44 years, Margaret, who died in 1986.

"It was exciting," he said. "My mother got a kick out of it because she got a helicopter ride too every year. That's not something everybody gets a chance to do, I suppose."

When he wasn't working, at the firehouse or village hall, Brady enjoyed the boats he docked at the family's home on the water. For years he piloted at 28-foot wooden Criss-Craft vessel, Thomas said, that consumed many of his free summertime hours.

"He loved boating," Thomas Brady said. "We lived on the water, and he spent a lot of time there."

Brady is survived by his second wife, Nancy Cotto of Brandon, Fla.; his brother, William Brady of Cape Coral, Fla.; his sons, Thomas and Michael Brady of Long Beach; and two granddaughters. He was predeceased by his brother Gerard Brady; and sons, James G. Brady Jr. and Joseph Brady.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Sunday at noon at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Island Park. Immediately following the Mass, Brady's family will host a fundraising supper at the Island Park firehouse, with all proceedings benefiting the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.